


Love Triangle (With Myself)

by EchoEnchanted



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: 3rd person point of view even though the title’s first person, Eddie and Venom are Peter’s wingmen, Everyone’s okay!!, Jealous Peter, Let’s just ignore Endgame for this one okay, M/M, Mj and Ned show up for a second but not long enough for me to tag them, Multi, Oblious Harley, Peter-centric, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), So is Aunt May, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Friendship, They’re buds, Tony watches it all happen, both Peter and Harley are dumbasses, harley’s a little shit, the avengers are back together, we love him for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2019-10-08 23:30:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17395793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoEnchanted/pseuds/EchoEnchanted
Summary: Peter never thought that Spider-Man would be the best thing that happened to him, and his worst enemy.(Peter likes Harley, Harley likes Spider-Man, you know he deal)





	1. Sidetracked

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> I’ve realized this story’s very simmilar to some other Peter/Harley stories out there already, so I’m sorry if it feels a little redundant. I’m also still trying to find my writing style so it may a little awkward at times, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Tuesdays weren't ever busy.

A Friday afternoon could bring a bunch of dumbass kids doing something illegal and a Saturday night could bring a group of twenty-somethings drunkenly bouncing down the street, somehow avoiding any type of danger, but Tuesday never brought anything to watch over. The fact that somehow this week managed to be the least eventful week of the summer didn't seem to help either. He wouldn't want to admit it, but sometimes Peter Parker would imagine some sort of action on days like this. Although action usually means that someone's in danger- which Peter didn't really want all. Of course, with “Parker Luck” something just had to happen anyway. A scream interrupted his daydream and the lenses of his mask quickly flickered over to the source of the sound. A hole in a building seemed to be the source of the noise. It looked like someone had punched it in, a large someone actually. Another scream caught his attention again and the vigilante looked for the origin.

Venom. He was a good guy, really, but he could be hard to control sometimes. Eddie usually could usually calm him down but now seemed like an exception. Peter assumed there must've been some sort of noise that set him off, maybe a dog whistle or some sort of radio frequency. Nevertheless, Spider-Man was faced with the task to solve the problem. A few civilians fled the scene leaving a family to cower behind a car as Venom staggered over to them slowly. He looked disoriented. Spider-Man sprinted over to the symbiote, dodging any debris left on the street from the attack and shooting a web over the creature’s hands. He forcefully pulled back on the string-like substance, sending Venom towards himself. The family rushed away from the location in fear as the teen got a grip on the symbiote. Venom grunted and looked back at the vigilante.

“Don't worry, man. It's over, your safe now, everything gonna be okay, okay?”

Venom took a moment to relax and let Eddie take over. At this point, most of the civilians in the area had dispersed and went back to their day-to-day lives. Everyone seemed to be fine.

“Are you okay, Mr. Brock?”

Eddie looked around the area giving a quick nod to Spider-Man.

“Anyone hurt?” He asked, his breath shaking.

Peter shook his head rapidly and scanned the area to making sure what he was correct. A boy quivering behind a building caught his attention. _Must’ve forgot one_. He thought, slowly approaching the towering structure. Most New Yorkers we used to the constant chaos that occured on a day to day basis, which most likely meant that this guy was new in town.

“I’ll be right back,” he told the Eddie while swinging off to the building. Normally he'd feel bad about leaving someone alone at a time like this but Eddie and Venom usually liked solitude after a moment like this. When the hero turned around the two had vanished. He figured he'd talk to them later, after they both had a chance to collect themselves. Spider-Man turned his attention back to the boy. His legs shook in fear while he gripped onto himself. His eyes were tightly closed, he didn't even realize Spider-Man’s presence. 

”Hey,” The Avenger said quietly. He held out a hand of conformation to the boy- who had opened his right eye after hearing the voice. Once his hand was accepted, he brought the boy out from behind the building, showing him that everything was fine. The boy scanned the area, his hand still interlocked with Spider-Man’s. He street was empty, the sun getting lower in the sky. The boy looked at Spider-Man and stuttered, probably trying to form a ‘thank you’ to the masked hero. Peter, on the other hand, had finally got a chance to get a look at the boy. Peter would be lying if he said he wasn't cute. Large cerulean eyes gazed back at him, overflowing with curiosity as his nose crinkled.

“Are you okay?” Peter asked for the second time that day, breaking the silence they unknowingly created. Shadows from street lights glazed upon the concrete the stir on as the sun got lower in the sky. Dirty blonde hairs fell over boy’s flushed face. He couldn't seem to form a word so he nodded instead. The two teens fell into silence once again. Peter had no idea why this was happening. He had only felt like this one other time-with Liz- and he would not allow himself to repeat the “Liz situation”.

Once again, Peter found himself daydreaming.

“Don't worry about Venom, some sort of situation like this happens at least once a week,” he laughed nervously. “But really, are you okay?”

The boy blinked and clenched his jaw, almost unable to speak. “Um y-yeah I’m fine,” he stammered. “Are you new here?” Spider-Man found himself asking. The question was vague and unnecessary but the blonde seemed to understand what he was asking.

“Yeah I just moved here from Tennessee,” he said, still shaking slightly.

His words faltering in uncertainty. Something about this kid made Spider-Man want to know more about him.

“Oh! Well if you want anyone to show you around sometime, I'm available! I know just about every inch of this city,” he explained, excitement twinkling in his voice. He didn’t realize what he had just signed up for.

“Really?” The blonde asked, the corner of his mouth quirked up slightly.

“Of course!” he gave a gentle smile, although it couldn't be seen through his mask.

The boy’s hand left Spider-Man’s. He took a pause as if he suddenly realized she shouldn’t be talking to strangers.

He stuttered again. “B-but I really shouldn’t, my mom’s probably worried about me, I was supposed to be home by now-“

“You want a ride?”

He received a blank stare from the other teen. 

”Or, swing I guess,”

He paused again.

“Sure” the blonde agreed. He grabbed Spider-Man’s hand once again as they took off the ground. This happened a lot. Peter couldn’t go too long without meeting someone in need of a lift home. Especially when he went out close to nightfall. That part was normal. What want to normal was his persistence. Deep down inside him, Peter knew he should’ve just left the guy after he declined his tour of the city. It was obvious he wanted to be left alone-or he was just too nervous to give a different answer. As he dropped the boy off at his house, he had already prepared and apology for his determination to spend more time with him. However things never go to plan for Peter Parker or Spider-Man for that matter.

“Thanks for taking me home, the boy blushed as held onto the hero, swinging from a nearby ledge.

“No problem, I just want to say sorry for the-“

“There it is,” the boy interrupted as he spotted his house. With a final shoot of webbing, he lowered himself and the boy- that hung desperately into his side- to the ground.

“Here before dark” he stated to himself. He let go of the boy and walked him to his front door.

“Thanks again, for everything.”

“Sure no prob-“

With that the boy was gone. Spider-Man turned around. May wanted him back before curfew, which wasn’t for another few hours, so he figured he’d check up on Eddie and Venom. The threw a web at a nearby stoplight and carried onto to their apartment.

==0==0==0==

Peter was greeted with a “How’d you find my address?” By Eddie, a question he asked every time the teen showed up and yet, still hadn’t received and answer. Peter has actually showed up at Eddie's apartment on many occasions due to how often they ended up spending time together. Usually Venom would go out looking for something to eat (other than people’s heads, Eddie warned him) and he'd end up scaring someone so Spidey, being as bored as he was all summer, would step in and form a conversation with the two. They had actually ended up with an unlikely friendship, regardless of Aunt May and Mr. Stark’s worries of having him near the symbiote. Eddie had been complaining about “personal space” or “how it’s illegal to follow someone home” of something like that when Peter finally spotted Venom. He was resting on Eddie’s shoulder eating a chocolate pop tart.

“Showing up unwarranted at someone’s house is illegal, Peter-“

“Hi Venom!” He interrupted the man.

“Hello Spider” Venom said though bites.

“Are you okay, what happened out there?” The two went on. Eddie through back his head in frustration and let Venom carry on with Peter. Turns out the two had heard a radio frequency (like Peter had suspected) and freaked out from there. Eddie ended the conversation saying it wouldn’t happen again and that they had it under control.

“Now, what happened to you, kiddo?”

Peter stopped to think for a second. He had left them in the middle of the street last time he saw them.

“Oh, right. I went down to help this guy standing there. I took him home.”

Eddie raised and eyebrow at the teen. “Oooohhh~” he teased.

“What? Oh no no no no, it’s not like that!”

Eddie and Venom laughed to themselves.

“So what’s his name?”

Spidey gasped.

“What’s wrong” Venom asked.

“He didn’t tell me,”

Eddie laughed at the kid’s misfortune. Venom eventually joined him.

“Hey it’s not funny! I just didn’t get the chance!” His face flushed. “I’ll just ask him,”

“How?” Venom asked.

“You’re gonna show up at his house?” Eddie asked sarcastically, still holding onto their previous conversation.

Peter hesitated and thought of an excuse.

“Well I did promise to show him around town.” He stated, although it sounds more like a question. Eddie shrugged and Venom continued eating his pop tart.

“What are you waiting for?” The symbiote asked. Peter humed thinking of a plan.

“I’ll go tomorrow.” He finished.


	2. It’s a Date!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter comes up with a plan to meet the boy again.

Peter got home before May freaked out. She asked him how his day was and he said it was uneventful, (he really had to work on his lying problem) instead asking her the same question back.

“Same here, Pete,” she stated. “But I find it hard to believe nothing happened. You were gone all day,” She laughed.

“Oh, you know. Just the usual,” he lied again. Peter really did feel bad for lying to her so much recently. “Well actually, I bumped into someone,” he said without thinking. God dammit, he was about to repeat the same conversation he had with Eddie and Venom.

“Who?” she asked, a smirk falling on her face. “Do I know them?”

“No-no, I don't even know him,” he said quickly. 

“You don't?”

“Well I just met him today.” He laughed nervously. May hummed.

“Well you must've made a good impression,” 

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” she said in a sing-song voice, making her way over to a cabinet. She changed the subject. “Don't forget, Mr. Stark’s picking you up on Friday,”

Peter had completely forgotten about that. Mr. Stark wanted to work with him on the web-shooters. He figured Peter would want do all the additions on them while he gave him some tips. He and May had decided that Peter would stay with him for a week.

“Right, I'll make sure I pack tonight.” he said, watching his aunt pull out a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese. With that, she started dinner. They ate and went to bed- well May went to bed. Peter stood up and packed while he thought of a way to stop but the boy’s house without seeming like a total creep. Maybe he was a bit obsessed. Through this thought process he realized that he didn’t even remember exactly where he lived. Maybe he’d just swing around the neighborhood and hope the boy saw him? He didn’t actually know what he’d do tomorrow. 

He didn’t even know why he was going back so soon.

Sure the boy was cute and he seemed cool but besides that, Peter knew nothing about him, not even his name. He had met plenty of cute, cool people being Spider-Man. So why should this one be any different? Peter dismissed that thought however and ended up settling on his half-assed plan to swing around the general area of the boy’s house. It was the only plan he had, so it had to work. There was no other option. 

 

==0==0==0==

 

Spider-Man left at 3. Hopefully there wouldn’t be much traffic on the way there, not on a Wednesday. You’d think traffic wouldn’t be a problem for the vigilante, but he always managed to find a way to get stuck in it. He put his plan in action and swung off to the neighborhood he took the boy to the previous night. After a while he wondered if he was being too clingy. What other superhero waited around some boy’s house just on the off-chance he would see him and give him some sort of attention? Attention. Yes attention was the correct word. Sure he wanted to help the boy, but in actuality, he just wanted someone to talk to. Plus, you can’t be clingy to someone you don’t even know, right?

After some more loitering in the area, he looked at his phone in the suit’s pocket. 4:24 pm. Jesus, he’d spent over an hour there. Maybe his plan hadn’t been 100% effective. Time for a new one. He decided to go back to the area he had met the boy yesterday. If this plan didn’t work, he’d go home and let this whole situation go. (He wasn’t planning on giving up so easily, he had to draw the line somewhere.) 

With a final swing around the block, he made his way back to look for the boy he say yesterday. As he waited he became less and less determined to find him. The day had already passed, there was no way he could show him around the entire state of New York before the sun went down. Maybe the entire state was a bit of stretch… he thought. Nevertheless it wouldn’t work out for either of them. He figured he'd wait about half and hour before he’d go home. That was the plan. Plans, however, didn’t seem to work today.

“Hey Spider-Man,” a voice said. His eyes flickered to the figure in front of him. There he was! The man of the hour, good ol’ whatshisname!

“Oh” he straightened his stance. “I was looking for you!”

“I mean, not “looking for you”” He said making air quotes with his fingers. “Like, not in a creepy way-“

The boy laughed in return. “I was looking for you too,”

Spider-Man thought about mentioning that he stopped by his house earlier but he ended up thinking that was going too far.

“Y’know, I’m still up for showing me around if you want to.” he continued. Peter tried his best to listen- of course he failed but he still  
tried. Something about the boy was just so amazing. Beautiful and handsome and still pretty. Peter's own thoughts confused him. This had never happened to him before. Never had he been so starstruck but some dude he didn't even know. Even with Liz he had to know a little about her before he could completely fall in love, but this was different. He felt like he already knew this guy. Which was crazy and stupid, he knew that, but still true. Peter realized he faded out of the conversation.

“But it’s getting late,” the boy continued. Right, the promise he made. Spider-Man looked at the time again. The other teen was right, they wouldn't have enough time to see the city before dark, he probably needed an entire day now that he thought about it. Then again, an entire day could be hard to negotiate.

“Right,” He stammered “Maybe tomorrow?”

“Sure, wanna meet here at noon?” Good. It looked like he knew what he was in for.

Spidey nodded. The boy walked off to a car.

“It's a date!” he said with a smile wave goodbye. Date? Spidey questioned. He couldn't have meant that right? It had to be a joke, of course. Either way, it made the hero excited for the next day. Or he was nervous. Both emotions were fair game. Peter dismissed his thoughts, only making room for new ones. For example, why did he have to smile like that? It was killing him at this point. Not only was the boy cute beyond imaginable but he also just had to have that beautiful smile along with it? The whole situation had him frustrated, luckily the mask hid his slight blush from the boy. He still couldn't believe he was blushing for this dude, yet there he was. Once the boy was out of his view, he turned around. Time to go home, finally. Only when he got there did he realize he still didn’t get the boy’s name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a pretty short chapter but I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for all of the positive support I received in the last chapter, chapter three should (hopefully) be our soon! Lots of love! <3


	3. Harley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter finally gets his name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait!!

The sound of buzzing woke Pete up. With tired eyes, he looked for the source of the miserable sound. He found his phone. With a few more ear-piercing rings from the device, he turned the alarm off and went back to sleep.

The alarm buzzed again.

Groaning loudly, he looked at his phone. A “wake up” message appeared as he looked at the time. 11:40 am.

“Holy shit-” he hissed falling out of bed. He stumbled over to his closet, grabbing his suit and practically falling out his window after saying a goodbye to May. He swung back to their meeting place in an impressively quick time of five minutes-perhaps it was the superspeed. He paced around the area for a moment before giving in to his boredom.

“What do you think I should do, Karen? I have fifteen minutes before he'll come,” he asked his AI. He had filled her in on his situation the previous night.

“There's a convenience store right down the street.” She stated. Peter understood what she was alluding to. It actually wasn't a bad idea.

“That's a pretty good idea, Karen. You know a lot about romance,” he said in awe.

“Romance?” She laughed. Peter still found if amazing that Stark was able to give her such human emotions.

“Well I mean-” Peter interrupted himself. “You know what, I'll get him something!” He made his way to the store Karen mentioned.

He skimmed the isles. Maybe a soda? It’s hard to tell which one the boy would like. Chips? That’s even harder to decide. Maybe he could let the boy choose for himself? That wouldn’t feel the same. He looked at the candy isle and stopped near the chocolate. Hershey’s. Milky Way. Snickers.They all sounded good but maybe Peter was just hungry. As it got closer to noon he realized he had to get out of this store and meet up with his mystery “date”. He glanced at a Reese’s peanut butter cup and decided it would do. He sprinted to the front of the store, later for the candy, then left. As soon as he walked out, he bumped into the aforementioned boy.

“Oh hi!” The blonde said, surprised. His blinked quickly and but his lip.

“Hey, I didn't think I'd see you here so soon,” 

“Yeah, I just wanted to grab something real quick,” moving he body in the direction of the store.

“Don't worry about it, I got you something,” Spidey replied, faking confidence.

“Really?” the boy responded. It looked like he had caught him off guard.

“Yeah,” he said handing over the peanut butter cup. “Hope you like it!”

The other teen grabbed the candy from Spider-Man’s hand.

“T-thank you,” he stuttered, relaxing his shoulders slightly. The two walked out of the store side by side.

“So I've been meaning to ask you,” Peter started. He wanted to make this sound as nice as possible. “What's your name?” He said bluntly. So much for nice.

“Wait, that sounded rude, I meant-”

“It's Harley,” the blonde said.

Harley. A cute name for a cute boy, it fits.

Peter didn't realize he said that out loud.

“You think I'm cute?” he said with a smile. That smile was really gonna be the death of him.

Spidey blinked. Back to faking confidence.

“Of course!” he exclaimed, then moved onto a new topic. “Now, we have places to be. I wanted to be show you Coney Island first.”

“That's and amusement park, right? Or is it an actual island?”

“Definitely an amusement park. Y’know, I threw up of the ferris wheel in first grade.” he said, matter-of-factly. Harley laughed. 

“You mind if I,” Spidey said slowly, gesturing to the blonde’s waist. Harley nodded and Peter grabbed him, swinging him off the ground.

“Is this your only way of transportation?” He asked with a nervous laugh ask he held on as tightly as he could.

“Pretty much, don’t worry we’ll be there soon,”

Harley help onto Spider-Man’s torso. Almost like a piggyback ride but minus the fun and add the fact that if he left go he’d probably die. Spidey’s arm was still around the other’s waist, which made swinging a little hard but not impossible. Not impossible for Spider-Man. Harley didn’t seem get that logic. As if to take his mind away from that fact he was hundreds of feet above the ground, he tried to make more conversation.

“So should I just call you Spider-Man, or?”

“Yeah, I’m not really allowed to tell you my name.” He replied with a sigh. Sometimes we really wished the whole secret identity wasn’t a factor in his life. “But if that bugs you maybe I could-“ he thought for a moment. He couldn’t risk it. “Never mind, you know how the whole secret identity thing is,” he ended. Harley nodded and smiled once again.

Just before Spider-Man crashed into a building from that smile alone, he reached Coney Island. They landed just outside the amusement park and observed at the ferris wheel as Peter told his vomit story. Harley made a series of disgusted and fascinated faces as the story went on. He was a pretty good listener. Peter decided he was done enough talking and turned the conversation over to him.

“So, Harley,” he started. “Why’d you move here?” He asked. It was a simple question- hopefully not too invasive.

He hesitated for a moment. “I got an internship here,” he said nervously, almost like he was ashamed. “I assume you’d know about it,”

Spidey blinked.

“It’s Tony Stark’s”

Peter perked up. “Oh that one! You’ll love it, Mr. Stark’s amazing,”

Harley chuckled lightly looking over to the massive ferris wheel ahead of him. “I’m just kinda worried about it. He said he has another intern who’s like, insanely smart. I don’t think I match up, to be honest.”

“Pshhh, I doubt that. But I know a few of Stark’s interns. They’re all really nice. I'm sure you’ll fit in fine,” he said.

“I hope so,” he looked down. “It’s tomorrow. Will you be there?” He asked out of pure curiosity. “You’re be the only person I know here-well besides Tony.”

There was nothing Peter wanted more than to be there, but the secret identity thing came up again.

“Sorry Harley, I ca-“ he started. He looked down. He thought about it some more. Stark was usually done with the internship by 6 at the latest. That actually could make a good excuse.

“Well actually, I could stop by at night?” He offered. “Would you still be there?” He really did feel awful about lying but Peter Parker had to be at that internship. That left no room for Spider-Man to show up.

Harley’s eyes lit up. “Yeah I’ll be there, I’m staying the night.” Goddammit. Nothing Peter planned actually worked. 

“Cool. But don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be fine.” He said. Harley smiled in return. 

After thinking of a way to get out of meeting with Harley tomorrow (and failing) Peter gave up. Through his anxiety he was able to smile. On the bright side, he could see Harely again. For real this time. He could actually be friends with Peter, not just Spider-Man.

Before getting to far into thought, he cleared this throat. “Are you ready?” He asked, gesturing to their location. 

“Oh yeah, right” Harley said rapidly, standing up. Spider-Man grabbed his waist once again and swung off the ledge the stayed on.

Next stop, Central Park.

The two stopped outside the actual park once again. They were submerged in the green scenery, looking upon the people surrounding the fountain in the middle.

“Not much to do here, it’s just pretty,” Spidey stated as he leaned against a tree.

“Woah” Harley looked amazed at the sight. Peter zoned out looking at the other teen. The two stared off into the scene in front of them, without saying a word.

“I don’t know if this is too personal,” Harley broke the silence. “But, do you know anything about Midtown High School?” Spider-Man nodded.

“Is it really just a smart kid school? I have to go there when school starts up again and I’m kinda worried about that too,” 

Peter thought for a moment. “I know a few people that go there,” he fibbed. “I think you’ll be okay.” Harley nodded.

“Good. Just nervous,” he said quietly.

“Don’t worry, man. I’m sure you’ll love it here.”

The two got back to their “tour”. They stayed out until sunset at their last location of the day: the Statue of Liberty. They sat right outside the tourist attraction.

“There’s a lot of bird shit up there,” The vigilante commented offhandedly. Harley looked to where the other was pointing. He was right but that wasn't the point.

“You have such a way with words,” he rolled his eyes.

Spidey punched his arm playfully.

He was surprised at how quickly the two had opened up to each other that day. They were practically strangers at the beginning- now here they were watching the sunset together. He glanced over to the aforementioned blonde. He took a bite of the Reese's peanut butter cup he had gotten him earlier. He took another bite the downed the whole piece of candy. Spidey snorted.

“I should probably get home,” he mentioned, standing up. He face turned red.

“Right, I promised myself to have you home before dark,” he teased.

He grabbed Harley’s waist once again as the swing off to the general area of his house.️️ After clarifying where, exactly, he lived, Spidey dropped him off and returned to his day. 

“How’d it go, Peter?” Karen asked.

“Couldn’t you hear us?”

“I decided to give you two some alone time,” she stated matter-of-factly, faking innocence.

“I went fine,” he responded with a small laugh. He’s going to be at the internship tomorrow.”

“Did you tell him who you are?” 

“No, he expects Spider-Man to stop by later, not Peter.”

“Let me get this straight, your going to be there all day as Peter, then show up as Spider-Man before he leaves.

“Pretty much,”

She laughed.

“So it’s a date?” She make the question more simple than it was.

“What? Nonononono, it’s just two friends hanging out,” he responded nervously.

“Right, of course.” Peter wasn’t sure whether that was sarcasm or not. “But I wanna get him something else for tomorrow.” He said. 

Karen made a sound that sounded like she was confused.

“He liked the peanut butter cup I gave him today, maybe I’ll get him another one,”

“As Spider-Man?”

“As Peter,”


	4. Peanuts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Prick at the lab”? Noted.

Peter finished packing the day of the internship. Once he stuffed one last shirt in his backpack, he hopped downstairs to say goodbye to May.

“God, you were out forever last night, when you get home?” She asked.

“Before eleven?” Peter tried. They both knew Peter had stayed out past curfew. May rolled her eyes.

“If I wasn’t so excited for you, I’d be mad.” She stated.

“Why do you mean? This isn’t my first time at the internship,” 

“I’m not talking about the internship,” she walked away.

Peter chased her down. “What?” He asked, completely dumbfounded by what she was alluding to.

“I know you were with that boy you were telling me about a couple days ago,”

Peter went silent.

“I can’t wait to meet him,”

May was smart. Peter knew that. What he didn’t understand was how she had figured the whole situation out.

“What, no! It’s not like that!” He stammered. May laughed. Peter picked up his backpack and made his way toward the door. He thought for a moment.

“He’s gonna be at the internship,” he said quickly, closing the door.

“He is-!!?!” He heard on the other side. Peter made his way down his apartment and outside to where Happy was meeting him.

The drive to Stark Towers was uneventful. It gave Peter time to think about Harley. He had to make a good first impression. Nice and approachable. Plus, the Reese’s peanut butter cup. He had to be subtle about that. Less like in a “I love you have this as a token of my affection” and more of a “oh hey do you want this, bro?” kinda way. He didn’t want to come on too strong.

As soon as he saw the towers he jumped up. He thanked Happy and walked into the building. The went up to the lab- which took a while considering the building was so huge. Peter looked at himself in the reflective metal surface of the elevator. He had to make a good first impression. He struggled to fix his hair and clothes but managed to look at least presentable as the doors opened. Peter walked to the lab and quietly opened the door. Nothing. He turned around.

“Hello Peter,” FRIDAY buzzed.

“Hi FRIDAY, is Mr. Stark here?” The floor looked empty form what Peter could tell.

“Right this way,” she said opening a door. It lead to the kitchen. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Peter thought as he walked in. He was greeted by the two people he expected to see. Mr. Stark was making lunch like the housewife he strived to be as Harley watched him.

“Hey kiddo,” he responded. “This is the guy I was telling you about, Harley,” his attention went back to the blonde. The same cerulean eyes looked at him- the same way they looked at him days ago when they first met. The soft look in his face swiftly turned into a look of pure annoyance.

“Hey,“ Peter said, walking towards the blonde, who rolled his eyes.

“I’m Peter,” He stated with a small wave.

“Harley,” he said dryly. He looked back to the meal in front of him.

“I met Harley a few years ago after the Mandarin incident. He helped me with the suit. Now he'll be here for the internship,”

Peter gasped, “You’re the one? Dude that’s awesome!”

Harley’s expression softened. He shrugged bashfully.

“I would’ve that he was coming mentioned him before, but I didn’t expect it to happen to soon,” Tony said, he was completely focused on squirting mustard on the sandwich he made. “Well work on the web-shooters after lunch.” He handed two plates to the teenagers.

Peter reminded himself about the Reese's. Now could be a good time to give it to him. He set it out on the table and gestured to it.

“Do you want this? I got too many,” he said coolly.

“I’m allergic to peanuts,” Harley retorted.

Peter raised an eyebrow. 

“Wait really?”

He hummed a response.

“Oh, sorry-“

“You can eat it, I just can’t” he stated. He sounded even more annoyed at this point.

“Oh, right,” he stammered. Maybe a Harley was just telling him that they didn’t know each other. I guess you shouldn’t accept candy from strangers he thought. He decided to make more conversation.

“So, what kinda stuff are you into? Considering you got the internship after the Mandarin thing I’d assume engineering? Well it could be physics but-“ He realized he was talking to himself. “Sorry, I’m rambling,” 

Harley gave him a look. Yeesh.

“Anyway, we’ll probably see each other around a lot so I hope we can be friends!” God, he sounded desperate. Harley hummed again, obviously uninterested in the conversation.

Tony butted in, “He’s in a bad mood right now,” he took a bite of his sandwich.

“Am not!”

“He’s cranky,” Tony whispered to Peter holding a hand to his mouth so Harley wouldn’t see him. 

“I don’t get any sleep last night!” 

Tony smiled and wiggled an eyebrow,

“Said he was out with Spider-Man yesterday,”

Peter’s face flushed. 

“So you and Spider-Man are friends?” 

“Yeah, basically.” Harley said with a smirk. It was different from the innocent smile Harley gave Spider-Man.

“But that’s not why I’m tired.” Harley rushed. This was the most life Peter had seem from him all day.

Tony made a face as if he was asking him to continue his story.

“I was in the ER, nothing serious though,” he said nonchalantly. The other two gasped.

“What happened?”

“Just an allergic reaction.” He shrugged. “I’m fine now,” 

Peter thought for a moment. It was the Reese's he gave him. If the allergic reaction was strong enough to send him to the hospital why did he accept it? Knowing he was the reason Harley had to go to the hospital made him sick to his stomach. He could’ve killed the guy! He made a mental note to bring it up when they meet again.

“To peanut butter?” Peter asked. Harley nodded as the brunette shoved the candy back into his bag.

“But it was totally worth it, Spider-man gave it to me. He didn’t know I was allergic.” His eyes gleamed when he mentioned the hero’s name.

“So instead of telling him you were deathly allergic to peanuts you ate it anyway?” Tony snarked. He was mostly clarifying for Peter rather than himself.

“Pretty much” Harley looked proud. Peter forced a laugh. Concern still waved through his voice.

“But like I said, I’m fine now.” He finished his story and his sandwich. Tony rolled his eyes as Peter nearly choked.

“So how do even know Spider-Man?” Tony asked with a smirk. Peter knew he was doing this to him on purpose.

“We met a few days ago,” he responded vaguely. “He showed me around the city,”

“Oh” Tony said sarcastically. Peter hid his face in his hands. He barely noticed the star-struck look on the other boy’s face. 

Just before Tony could say something else, his phone rang. He whipped up a shitty old flip phone and answered it.

“It’s Steve,” he said flipping it closed. “I gotta go, but you two can get started on the web-shooters.” He finished, leaving no context at all. Before they two teens knew it, Stark was already out of the room.

“What do you think that was?” Harley asked. He seemed to have opened up after their last conversation. Peter shrugged and grabbed the Spider-Man suit in his backpack. He could probably hear what was happening over the coms. Unfortunately, he heard nothing. Harley changed the subject.

“So what was Tony talking about? Web-shooters?”

“Yeah, I started making new ones,” He pointed to a blueprint of the Spider-Man suit..

“They're not finished yet but it’s a start,” Peter commented.

“Well I guess it beats the candy bracket I was gonna get him,” Harley mumbled.

“What?”

 

“He said he’d come back tonight,” Harley answered vaguely. Peter looked back with an eyebrow raised. Harley tried to ignore it but he failed. Luckily before he got the chance to say something, Peter talked again. 

“So why’d you get him a candy bracelet of all things?”

“Because we’re friends, Peter!” He said poking his chin up. He got a smile in return, which quickly turned into a sarcastic little laugh. 

“Right, of course,”

 

“So I’m giving it to him, it’s the least I can do.” Through his cockiness, Peter could see the shyness plastered across his face. It was sweet, really. No one had really gone out of their way to get something for him, even if it was just as candy bracelet. Peter got back to the task at hand.

“Well don’t worry. The web-shooters are strictly business, I won’t steal Spider-Man away from you,” he teased, secretly hoping the blonde didn’t hear him.

“Pshhh, that’s not what it is!” He replied with a nervous laugh.

“Right, of course,” Peter repeated. Harley smiled (which nearly killed Peter again) and took a step forward. The two, really just Peter, worked on the web-shooters for the rest of the afternoon. Harley mostly observed, getting used to the way the lab worked. The two seemed to be getting along, from what Peter thought. Sure it could've gone better, but they had a start. As 6 o'clock rolled around, Harley excused himself from the lab.

“Oh okay, we can finish tomorrow! And I'll show you around the lab more-” Harley was already out of the door.

Peter grabbed his suit and gave himself a moment before meeting Harley on the roof of the tower. 

He swung off to a few further buildings before swing back to the tower. He had to at least give the illusion of coming from somewhere else.

“Hey Harley, sorry I’m late but-“ the blonde cut him off with a hug. “You okay?”

“Thank God you’re here,”

“Was it really that bad?” The masked teen asked. Part of him felt bad for Harley, the other part was a little self conscious. Had the day really been that bad? Sure he could be a little awkward at times but he didn’t think he'd made that bad of an impression. He tried to look at the other teen in front of him. He rested his head on his shoulder. The two sat in silence until Harley could finally form a sentence.

“I really don’t fit in here,” he said quietly.

Peter didn’t know what to say. Of course he disagreed but he couldn’t say that yet.

“What makes you think that?”

He received a sigh. “Remember that guy I was telling you about? The crazy smart one? Turns out he actually is crazy smart and I still don’t stand a chance.”

Peter frowned under the mask.

“Come on, it was your first day. He was probably just showing off,” he spit out. Working against himself probably wasn’t the best idea but he did what he had to do.

“You think?” The blonde asked with a dry laugh.

“Sure! Plus, Stark wouldn’t give you the internship if you weren’t just as smart as that guy, if not smarter,” In all honesty, Peter was still impressed by the fact that Harley had an impact on the Mandarin situation. Tony had told him that story so many times, and each time he was more and more fascinated by it. He almost couldn’t believe a ten-year-old had helped with all that. So him saying Harley had to be smart was an understatement.

He lifted his head and made a face. Peter gave smile before realizing it couldn’t be seen under his mask. “But it wasn’t entirely bad was it?” He asked after a moment.

Harley pursed his lips together and looked back down. “Guess not,” he still looked unhappy.

“I got this for you,” a hand reached out and gave the hero the candy bracelet he had heard about earlier that day. “Just to pay you back,” 

“Harley, you didn’t have to get this,”

“I wanted to,” he finished. “It’s the least I can do.”

Peter put the bracelet on and looked back up at the boy in front of him.

“Do you think you could come back tomorrow?” He hesitated. “You’re the only good part about this day,”

“Of course! I’ll stay for as long as you want,”

“Thanks,” he looked off. “I’m sorry, I have to get to that prick at the lab,” he said with a huff. “See you tomorrow?” Spider-Man nodded and waved back.

“Prick at the lab”? Noted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3<3<3


	5. Have It Your Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I wanted to post this before Valentine’s day was over (at least, in some parts of the word) but I hope their doesn’t seem to rushed! The next chalet we should be longer <3

Peter slid down to the lab hoping to reach it before Harley did. Thank God for super speed. He put on a fake smile and pretended to work on the web-shooters. As soon as the other boy found him his smile dropped. Why should he passive about it? If Harley didn’t like Peter, then Peter didn’t have to like Harley. Sure that wasn’t helping his chances but he didn’t care about that at the moment. If he wanted some sort of rivalry between them, that’s what he’ll get.

“Hey Harley, didn’t think you’d be back,” He stated, hardly batting an eye at the boy’s presence. “Thought you were too busy with Spider-Man,”

“I wasn’t-“ he started. He instead rolled his eyes at the brunette. “Whatever, you get anything done?” He pointed at the web-shooters.

“No, I could’ve used your help,” Initially, Peter wanted this to sound encouraging but it just came off as rude. 

“You also could’ve told me how to,” Harley spit back.

“I’ll show you what to do tomorrow,” he shook his head. “That is, if you care to figure it out,”

“Peter, you can suck up to Tony and pretend like you know what what you’re talking about all you want, but even I can tell you have no idea what you’re doing,” he said, faking a concerned little smile. Peter cursed his past self for giving Harley that idea.

“I know exactly what I’m doing!” He received a raised eyebrow from the other boy. He then realized he had no evidence to back up that statement. Fortunately a door burst open before anything else could be said.

“I leave you two alone for a couple of hours and you’re already biting each others heads off?” Tony said with a laugh.

“Sorry Mr. Stark,”

Harley smirked at him. Peter sighed. He could handle being called a lot of things, but “suck up” wasn’t one of them.

“Peter, this seems a bit childish,” his AI butted in, gesturing to their previous conversation. Peter ignored her as Harley passed him by to meet the other avengers in front of him.

They ended up going to bed after a “quick” debrief of the mission Stark went on. By quick, he meant a two hour story explaining (in detail) of the recent invasion of symbiotic parasites across New York City. He’d have to talk to Eddie and Venom about that one. However, Peter couldn’t say he had to wait through the whole 120 minutes just listening to Tony. The other Avengers were there two. Clint said something about being hungry so they took a snack break. They managed to get to the topic again so they took another snack break, yada, yada, yada, the whole situation lasted too long. The two teens shared some slightly unfriendly looks that Tony choose to ignore and made their way to their respective rooms.

==0==0==0==

The next day mainly consisted of Tony breaking up verbal battles between the two. That’s actually how it went for weeks. They’d “fight” at the internship. They’d “flirt” when he was Spider-Man.

It was simple.

Most of their arguments started when Peter did something wrong and Harley felt the need to comment on it. Tony would usually end it by mentioning Spider-Man and Harley would calm down.

He obviously had a huge crush on Spider-Man (which he, of course, denied) and Peter felt a similar way about him. Well, Spider-Man’s Harley. The Harley he saw at the internship was a little shit but that was beyond the point. Peter knew Harley was a good person, whether he always acted like it or not.

Peter wanted to believe Harley didn’t feel any actual negative feeling towards him. He had hoped that it was just a “friendly” competition between two people who really had nothing to compete over, but as time went on, it seemed more and more like the blonde actually hated his competitor. About a week after their first meeting Tony finally said something about it to him.

“Don’t be mean to Peter, he’s probably that nicest guy you’ll meet,”

“No he’s not!” Peter looked over at the two.

“And you,” Tony continued gesturing to the brunette, “Stop bothering him, he’s still figuring everything out,” Peter huffed.

“Whatever, I have to go,” Harley said. That’s what he always said. As soon as 6 o’clock came around Harley was gone. Tony always gave Peter the same look.

“You should tell him,” he said, not looking up from his desk.

“What? No of course not- Hey! You’re not supposed to be telling me that!” Peter stammered.

“So you’re just gonna keep letting him think he hates Peter and loves Spider-Man?” Tony tapped his pen on the desk.

“Yeah” He said after thinking for a moment.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Y’know he’s practically in love with you at this point, right?”

Peter froze. “Peter me or Spider-Man me?” Dumb question. It was obviously Spider-Man.

Tony shrugged. “Both?” He said nonchalantly. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about it.”

“Harley doesn’t like Peter me,”

“Debatable,”

Peter shook his head. “I have to go,” he pulled his shirt off revealing his suit underneath. He made his way up to the blonde in a haste. Usually their “meetings” didn’t last more than half an hour, but it helped Harley. It helped them both. Peter hadn't really been the kind to talk about his feelings and neither was Harley, yet, every night the two did.

As Spider-Man approached the roof, he greeted the other teen. “Sorry I’m kinda late,” he said sitting on the edge of the building. A breeze grazed upon the two. It was cold for a summer night. Harley simply smiled in return and made a “meh” sound.

“Better day?”

He made a so-so motion with his hands. “Better than usual, how about you?”

Spider-Man blinked. “Uh, yeah it was pretty uneventful,” he lied. Harley thought for a moment.

“Is it weird being a superhero?” He asked out of the blue. “Like, you said you were the same age as me, and that you go to a public school, so is it hard?” 

Peter thought for a moment. “Yeah,” he said. “It is,”

Harley nodded.

“I think is more the “secret identity” part though,” he made air quotes. “I wish I could just tell people, that would make it a lot easier,” He shivered as another breeze passed him.

“Are you cold?” Harley asked. Peter looked down at himself. He had been shivering since he got there.

“Oh, I’m fi-“ he started. Harry took his jacket off and put it around the other. Spidey froze. He felt warmth in his cheeks. He looked at the blonde and back at his shoulders, now covered with the jacket. He grabbed the ends of it and pulled them tighter around him. 

“Thanks,” he managed to say without stuttering. “But won’t you get cold?” Harley shrugged and looked off at the city. Peter rarely got the chance to appreciate his surroundings, especially at night. For someone who didn’t live there, New York must’ve been breathtaking. It was busy, like any other night, but calm in some way. Red and yellow lights blended together and reflected off the water. A few noisy cars blared down the dark streets, leaving a trail of light behind them. They watched the shades of blue cascade across the night sky. Up there felt quieter. Isolated. Almost like they were alone. Together.

Peter felt his face grow hotter. No one had ever gave him their jacket before. Sure, it wasn’t that big a deal, but it was a nice gesture and sure he could’ve just turned on his suit’s heater, but where’s the fun in that? The two sat in silence for a while, only to be disrupted by the AI in Peter’s suit.

“Calm down, Peter,” Karen stated. He made a small “hmm?” sound in return.

“Act natural, lean onto him,” Peter made a slightly louder “hmm?” sound. He felt hotter. He couldn’t do that. He wished he could talk back to the AI without it seeming like he was talking to himself.

“You’ll be fine,” she continued. Peter took her advice with a roll of his eyes. He shifted his weight slightly onto the blonde, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

“Are you sure you’re not cold?” He asked, barley above a whisper. Harley shook his head and put an arm behind the hero. He shivered slightly. Liar. Spider-Man chuckled slightly. He put his head on the other boy’s shoulder (which was kinda hard considering they were the same height) and sighed looking at the other boy’s flushed face. He smiled although he soon realized, once again, that his smile couldn’t be seen under his mask and looked away. Way to make it awkward, Parker.

He soon heard his phone buzz and picked it up. It was from Eddie. He looked down and the bright screen and read:

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a boyfriend!?”


	6. Desisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shows up 3 months later with Starbucks*
> 
> Okaaayyy I know it’s been awhile, but I’m back!!!” School’s almost over so you can expect me to finish this story and probably make new ones over the summer. But thank you to everyone who’s still here! I really appreciate it! The next chapter will be up tomorrow!

Peter’s turned his head a little. He reread the message. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a boyfriend!?”

What was that supposed to mean? He texted back a few question marks,then put his phone away. It looked like Harley hadn’t even noticed. He was still completely infatuated with the city in front of him.

“Um, Harley?” His phone buzzed again.

“Harley’s not my boyfriend!” He responded as the blonde snaked and arm around his shoulder.

“How do even know about him?” he texted again. The question was actually very important to Peter.

“Stark,” Eddie texted back almost immediately. Goddammit, Stark. He looked at Harley again, who suddenly looked back at him. He decided the only thing he could do was scoot closer to him. He figured that action was enough since the blonde turned his attention back to the scenery. Peter sent a chain of angry emojis back to Eddie.

“frICK”

“Watch your language, young man”

“He’s not my boyfriend!!!! He doesn’t even know it’s me”

“You should tell him”

“Nooooo! I’m supposed to be responsible with this!”

Peter could practically feel Eddie’s eye-roll from the other side of his phone. Eddie sent him one more text.

“I still wanna meet him” 

Peter groaned slightly. 

“Hate to cut this short, but I think I have to go,” he said to Harley. He got up and returned his jacket. It was actually really cold without it, he wondered how Harley wasn’t shivering more than he already was.

“Thank you,” He said again.

“Of course,” Harley nodded. He put the jacket back over Harley’s shoulders and offered to walk him back into the building. He accepted and ended up making his way back to the lab, where the group of avengers (mainly just Tony, Steve, Bruce and Nat) were once again, talking about their latest mission. Peter made his way there shortly after in a haste and listened to the conversation.

“He’s back,” he heard Nat say in a sing-song voice. Sure eavesdropping wasn’t “morally good” but if anyone caught him, he could blame it on Natasha’s training.

All of the Avengers turned to face the blonde. He greeted them and tried to drive the conversation anywhere else than where Peter thought it was going. Thank God. 

Peter assumed Harley had meet most other the other heroes at least once before he even came to New York. It was the only logical answer. He seemed so at home with them and Peter had no idea how. It was like he had some kind of bond with each and every one of them. Part of it made Peter jealous. That was never good.

The conversation carried on as Peter listened outside the door. They seemed like they were all catching up with the teen. Someone, Peter couldn’t pinpoint who, asked Harley where he was for all of that time. That was Peter’s queue to let himself in.

“I was just cleaning up the lab,” Harley said as the brunette opened the door.

“You liar!” Tony mumbled.

“I was!” Harley blushed, noticing Peter’s presence.

“Tony said you were with Spider-Man,” Steve said innocently. It wasn’t an innocent observation. Peter and Harley both knew Tony had told the entire team about their little “situation”.

“I wasn’t-“ Harley started. He knew he couldn’t win this one. “It’s not a big deal,” he finished, giving up.

The blonde received a judgemental look form nearly everyone in the room.

“We’re just friends!”

Peter looked away. He met Tony’s gaze and frowned. A few other Avengers looked at him the same way. He was starting to regret telling them his secret identity. Harley continued;

“Come on, guys! I can’t believe you’d actually think I’d date Spider-man,”

Peter gasped. “Harley, it would be the luckiest day of your life if you were allowed to breathe near-“ Tony punched his shoulder lightly. Peter sighed. Where did that come from?

“Peter, you don’t have to be jealous,” Harley stated. The brunette rolled his eyes as he got back to his story.

“Anyway, we’re not dating. We really are just friends,” Part of the way Harley said it sounded like he was disappointed. Peter smiled. Sure it was cool to think Harley liked him to the point where the Avengers would tease him about it, but he ahead more pressing matters at hand. As soon as the conversation wrapped up and Harley left the room Peter had an outburst.

“Mr. Stark, you said you wouldn’t tell anyone!” Tony turned his head, talking a moment to realize what the teen was talking about.

“Wouldn’t. Not didn’t,” he said.

Peter stuttered. “I trusted you! You betrayed me!”

Tony smirked and nodded.

“It made him excited,” Bruce chimed in. “He only told us because he cares about you too.”

Pete stuttered again. “That’s a lie!” His voice cracked.

“I think it’s cute,” Steve said. Tony gestured at him as if to say “See? Told you!” The rest of the Avengers made sounds of agreement.

“You should tell him it’s you, I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear it,” Nat said.

Peter nearly collapsed. “I can’t!” He was getting the feeling that the others were just provoking him at this point. “Not yet, at least.”

Steve and Tony shared a look while Bruce took a sip of his coffee and Nat rolled her eyes.

“Okay fine,” Peter sighed. Who knew that a few judgmental looks could break him that easily?  
“I’ll tell him,”

The other four people became visibly excited. 

“But I’ll need to make sure it’s perfect,” 

“That’s gonna take a long time,” Bruce mumbled.

“It’ll happen!” Peter began to think. He would need to know Harley a little better before he did anything too drastic. They’d only met about a week ago, and these things take time. Yet, he couldn’t spend too much time on this stage of their “relationship”. They had to get over the fighting part. Peter would have to make an effort to be extra nice to the blonde no matter how hard it would be. Maybe he could use Spider-Man to hype Peter Parker up? He could be his own wingman.

“Am I a catfish?” He thought. He tried to ignore the blaring question he had but had no success. Technically the answer was no, but that’s didn’t stop him from feeling bad about the whole situation. Plus, the longer he waited to tell Harley, the worse he’d feel. So, he concluded that he’d give himself a month-no longer. By the time July rolled around Harley would know, there was no backing away from this one.

“Give me a month.” Peter concluded.


	7. Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the support, guys!!

Peter had one month.

One month to get Harley to like him. He had to think of a good place to start. 

“Maybe I could just reintroduce myself? We can start all over again if I apologize” The teen began to think of what exactly he did wrong. As far as he knew he didn’t really do anything to warrant Harley being such a dick to him. So maybe this was solely a Spider-Man job. “I could just tell him,” He thought. But that was the last thing he wanted to do. It only increased the chances of the blonde rejecting him and getting angry. So, he decided he’d need help figuring it out

Peter picked up his phone to text Eddie.

“I think I need help” He sent the text.

“With your boyfriend?”

“yeeeaaahhh” He typed with a sigh. “I don’t know how to get him to like me”

“He already likes you”

“He likes Spider-Man, not me”

“shhh” Eddie sent back. “All you have to do is spend more time with him, then he’ll love you” He made it seem so simple. Peter debated sending a very angry text mainly saying “it’s not that easy” be he decided not to. He simply said;

“I guess, but how do I get him to do that??”

“Just ask him dumbass” The teen let out an offended gasp.

“rUDE” He texted. The other man simply laughed in return.

“But fine, I’ll do it”

Pete went up to his room to his room in the tower. He hadn’t been there much since he got there. He was only there when he needed to sleep, but considering he’d probably be spending plenty of weeks there during the course of the summer. He decided to get his room ready for the next time he’d be over at the tower. Aunt May and him had decided he would only go there occasionally and stay for a couple of days, maybe a week at the most but that probably wouldn’t help his plan to get Harley to like him. So, the obvious logical conclusion was to beg is aunt to let him stay longer. Which somehow went better than expected but still only got him one extra week at the tower. He’d have to think of another plan. In order to get Harley to like him he’d have to spend as much time with him as possible in the smallest timeframe he could. “Challenge accepted” he said to himself.

He spent the remainder of the afternoon in his room finally unpacking all of his possessions. It looked more like home this way, plus it gave him more time to think about Harley, which was never bad. 

He came to a conclusion: that night, when he saw Harley as Spider-Man, he’d ask if he wanted to hang out.

~

Peter now had three weeks.

Harley had agreed to meet up with him a week after he initially asked. That day was today. 

Peter felt his palms sweat. He had no idea why he was so nervous. Spider-Man usually gave him confidence, that was probably the reason Harley like him more than Peter. That is, if Harley actually did like like him more than Peter, it was still up to interpretation in his book.

Yet, that didn’t stop him from worrying. He could blow any chance of Harley liking him if he fucked anything up today. Peter knew he was being a bit dramatic but it was true. He couldn’t ruin his chances. So, with one last pep-talk, he put his mask on and made his way to the top of the Avengers tower.

“Hey,” Harley said as he fiddled with his hands. Peter still didn’t know how he managed to be so adorable. The brunette greeted him back and offered to take him to his favorite fast food place. Sure it wasn’t that “romantic” to bring the boy you like to McDonald’s, but it was all he could afford. Luckily, Harley gushed at the idea.

The two teens made their way to the location of their “date”. Once again, Peter awkwardly carried the other teen while swinging. He’d still have to figure out how to do that in a more romantic manner, but that was a project for another day.

He figured a picnic back on the roof of the tower would be better than eating in the restaurant so, like the gentleman he is, Peter ordered the food while Harley waited outside. 

“Y’know, you really didn’t have to buy it for me, I have money,” The blonde said with a smile.

“I know, but what kind of date would I be if I didn’t pay?”

“Date?” Harley’s smile seemed to widen.

“Well, if you want it to be,” The two kicked a few rocks out of their way as Peter snuck a fry in his mouth.

“Hey! No eating until we get there!” Harley said with a punch in the other teen’s arm. Peter nearly choked. 

“I’m hungry!” 

“Pssh, so am I!” The blonde took the bag out of the vigilante’s hands. “But if you’re gonna swing me back to the tower, you can’t have this with you.” Harley made a good point that Peter didn’t want to admit. He took another fry and placed to bag in the other’s hands. “Fine,” He said with a mouthful.

He shot a web to the top of the tower and carried the blonde with one of his arms. Again, he’d have to figure out how to do that part better.

The two sat on the roof for a while. Talking more than eating, surprisingly. Harley mentioned more about the lab. More about Peter.

“I mean, he’s not even that bad. That’s the problem! He’s gonna outshine me in everything I do and I can’t even find a good reason to hate him!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t then,”

“I know,” Harley considered. “But it’s too late now, he probably hates me.” He seemed a bit upset.

“It’s not too late,” Peter tried to reassure him. “He’ll probably forgive you. I’ve talked to him before, he seems pretty cool.” Peter still felt like he was doing something wrong here. Maybe he wasn’t a catfish, maybe he was just a liar. Definitely the ladder.

The two finished their food as the day was about to end. The sun began to set in front of the teens. Harley had been quiet for a while at this point. Peter wondered what was wrong.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” He said as he swung his legs back and forth.

Harley stayed quiet for a couple more seconds. “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure! Anything!” God that sounded desperate. “Well, I mean not anything” That sounded douchey. “Well, yeah anything, actually-“

Harley gave him a look. He was rambling.

“Go ahead,” he tried to get the attention off himself and back on Harley.

“I think,” The blonde started. “Actually, I know,” he corrected. It looked like it was his time to ramble as he stuttered his way through his sentences.

“I really like you,” He finished quietly. Peter froze. Sure, everyone in his life had been telling him this, but actually hearing it from Harley himself, that was different.

He didn’t think it would happen this quickly. Sure he felt like he had known Harley forever, but they still had only meet a few weeks ago. What did he do to make him like him anyway? What if Harley do to make Peter like him? 

Peter was ecstatic. The one guy he liked more than anyone else during to course of his lifetime, somehow liked him back. Peter could kiss him.

Peter remained silent. Only that thought dared to cross his mind. What if he did kiss him?

He put a hand over the other boy’s eyes, lifted his mask, and met his face.

He kissed him. Not just a normal kiss, this was different. This was like a movie. Peter could practically hear the fireworks going off in the back of his mind. This was what he had been waiting for. All those months led up to this moment and honestly, it couldn’t be any better. When Peter described this kiss as perfect, he meant it. He feared Harley would pull away, but he stayed. He stayed and kissed back. He moved slightly onto Peter and turned his face to deepen the kiss. Peter legitimately though something like that could only happen in a cheesy romantic comedy, yet, here he was. With Harley Keener, on a roof, kissing him as the sun went down.

Peter wished it would have lasted forever, but of course, that was unrealistic. As soon as it started, it felt like it was over. He pulled away from the blonde and put his mask back on. Harley’s eyes met his for a brief moment. His face was flushed and his lips parted, as if he wanted to say something. Peter had never felt so happy that his own face was concealed from the other. He knew he’d look like a mess. 

Harley finally formed a sentence.

“I’m guessing that means you like me too?” He chuckled as his face flushed. 

Peter huffed out a laugh as well.

“Yeah,” he breathed “Yeah I do.”

Harley smiled. A smile Peter thought he’d seen a million times before yet, it wasn’t like one Peter had seen. He wanted to kiss him again and again. He forgot why he was there in the first place, then it hit him.

“Shit-“ he hissed.

“What? What is it?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t, it’s just-“ Peter though for a second. He needed an excuse. He couldn’t let Harley like Spider-Man any more than he already did. He was supposed to make him like Peter today. He had to think quicker, Harley looked heartbroken, he deserved an answer.

“Peter likes you!” He spit out.

“Huh?” Harley looked more confused now.

“He told me,” Peter stammered. “I can’t do this to him, I’m sorry,”

Harley’s look of confusion dissipated into sadness. Then, confusion again.

“Peter likes me?” He sounded like he didn’t believe what was coming out of his own mouth.

“Yeah, he does! But, don’t tell him I told you,” Peter was talking too fast for his own good.

“Anyway, I’m really sorry, I just have to go,” Peter made an excuse. Harley looked a bit disappointed but accepted the other teen’s explanation.

Peter made his way from the roof repeated the same phrases in his head over and over again.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”


	8. Make Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Harley’s waiting for you,”

Peter didn’t want to be dramatic, but the next day was a living hell. He hadn’t realized how embarrassing it would be for his crush to realize he liked him, especially since it didn’t even come from him in the first place. Sure, there was the magical chance that Harley would accept his feelings and start like omg him back, but after last night? Nope. Out of the question. He couldn’t believe he actually rejected Harley like that. The moment he had a chance, he blew it.

Harley obviously felt different about Peter as well. He could tell. The two avoided eye contact all day, which made for a very awkward afternoon. Tony seemed to notice but didn’t comment on it.

Peter sighed. He knew he’d have to address the whole situation eventually, even before his month was over. Speaking of which, he still only had three weeks to reveal himself to his crush, and at this rate, that seemed like it would be a lot harder than he initially thought. Yet, there was still a hope that it could all work out. Peter figures if he told Harley even sooner, he’d react better to it. He could say it was all a funny misunderstanding and that both Spider-Man and Peter Parker liked him- which was 100% true. He could just say he panicked that night-which was also 100% true- and that he didn’t want to confuse him too much- which, yet again, was 100% true. So all signs pointed to him just telling Harley the truth and getting it over with. Peter knew it wouldn’t be easy, but he also knew he’d have to get it over with eventually. Plus, he was feeling pretty confident considering he finally got confirmation on whether Harley liked Spider-Man or not.

The sound of crashing metal broke the teen out of his thoughts.

“You okay, Keener?” Tony asked slowly. Pete looked over at the aforementioned blonde, who was currently building an Iron Man suit of his own. He looked nervous.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine,” he said with a swallow. He glanced at Peter for a moment before quickly looking away. Tony made an excuse to leave. He probably figured that the two needed to have a conversation. He said something about “Avengers work”, it sounded like bullshit but the two teens nodded and continued working. 

Now’s you chance, Parker.

“Um, Harley?” He asked biting his lip a little. He other boy turned to face him.

“Did, uh-” he thought of a moment. “Spider-Man tell you something last night? About me?”

Harley looked down for a second. “No, why do you ask?” He stated as he turned away.

“It’s just, I told him something about you and I was wondering if he told you,” Pete had to admit he was getting better at making things up on the spot.

“Did you want him to tell me?” 

Peter nodded.

“Well now that I think about it,” He abandoned his work and sat next to the brunette. “He did tell me something.”

“Are you mad?” Pete asked without thinking. Why would he be mad? At least, why would he be mad now? Peter didn’t do anything wrong yet. Sure he would have a reason to be mad once Peter told him that he’d been lying to him, but now? Maybe he was just being a bit paranoid.

“Mad?” Harley asked, equally as confused. “I’m not mad,”

“Not yet,” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He let out a small chuckle.

He’d be lying if he said he was planning to confess his feelings to Harley in the lab. He wanted to do it somewhere special and give him flowers or something romantic like that, but now was a good opportunity.

“I,” he started. He avoided looking into those pretty blue eyes next to him. Instead he played with the candy bracelet on his hand. Just like the one Harley had given Spider-Man a few weeks ago. 

“May or may not be,” he continued. He was stalling. He knew that. He hoped someone would burst through the doors of the lab and cut their conversation short like in a TV show. But unfortunately, this wasn’t a sitcom, and the two boys were completely alone.

“Spider-Man. ” He finished. It almost sounded like a question, like he was unsure of whether or not he actually was. Harley blinked.

“What?” 

“I’m Spider-Man” Harley looked completely and utterly baffled.

“As in, we’re the same person-“

“No, no, I know what you mean,” Harley stuttered.

Peter scratched his arm furiously. He wanted to apologize a million times for everything. He had hoped telling Harley the truth would make him feel less guilty but it didn’t. He felt unbelievably worse now. 

“I’m sorry,” he managed to get out.

Harley shrugged. “Yeah, no it’s fine,” he said. Anyone with a brain could tell he wasn't fine. His whole demeanor was off. He was sweating- a lot more than usual, he was still avoiding eye contact, and he was breathing a lot quicker.

“Harley,” Peter started to talk. Harley cut him off.

“It’s fine, really!” He made a tight smile. “I just have to think about, you know?” His words sounded cooler than his body language. Peter wanted to explain himself. He wanted to reassure Harley and let him know that it didn’t have to be so weird. But nothing came out. Before he knew it, Harley was gone and he was alone in the lab.

“Yeah I get it,” he mostly said to himself.

~

Peter violently taped on his phone. He had to talk to someone about this. Not the Avengers, not Eddie. Someone who’d get it. Ned was on vacation and Mj was taking a break from social media for a while, but it was worth a shot. He shot a text to their group chat and waited impatiently for a response.

He received a text from Ned first, simply asking if he was okay. Mj followed suit and asked a similar question. Peter asked if they could all talk in a Group FaceTime or something. Which they, hesitantly, agreed to.

“Everything okay, dude?” Ned’s voice was the first one he heard. Mj waited patiently for an answer.

“I told Harley!” He blurted out. The two other teens shared looks of surprise.

“That’s good, right?”

“No, yes, well-“ Peter paused for a moment. “I don’t think he’s taking it very well”

“Why do you say that?” Ned asked.

“He left. He said it was okay, but everything else pointed in the other direction,” 

“It can’t be that bad,”

“I think I ruined everything! He probably wants nothing to do with me! The same thing happened with Liz-“

“Look,” Mj spoke up. “You could’ve either gone through your whole life lying to him and feeling awful about it, or you could’ve told him now, and risked the possibility of him being mad,” 

Peter sighed.

“I think you made the right choice,” She finished.

Ned made a sound of agreement.

“I guess,” Peter said finally.

“Just give him some time. I’m sure that after this whole thing blows over you too will be just fine.” 

Peter looked back at his two friends. They each gave him smiles and a few last words of encouragement before hanging up.

All he could do was wait.

~

Nothing changed during the next week. The two teens still avoided each other, but Harley began to spend more time at the lab which eventually pushed Peter out of it entirely. So, he spent more time in his room. More time thinking about things other than Harley. When it was time for Peter to return home, he gave Harley a slight wave goodbye in addition to saying goodbye to the other Avengers. Sure, he wasn’t completely happy to leave, but it gave him some time away from Harley. He wasn’t sure if he actually wanted time away from the blonde, but he figured it would help him out in the long run. So, with a final goodbye, he left the tower.

Nothing changed during the next two weeks. Now that Peter was back home, he figured he wouldn’t have much of a chance with his crush. He spent his days distracting himself in any way possible which mostly consisted of Spider-Manning, summer homework, or spending more time with his friends. Still, he couldn’t keep his mind off the other boy.

Nothing changed during the next three weeks. He began to lose hope for the whole Harley situation, that is, until Aunt May suggested for him to go back over to the tower for another week. She seems awfully persistent on getting Peter back over there, so he eventually just gave in. He nervously tugged in his shirt during the car ride. His former plan of acting casual around Harley seemed like it would be easier said than done. He was starting to dread seeing him. He could have avoided it if May wasn’t so determined to get them to see each other again. He slowly walked into the front doors once his ride was over. Tony greeted him a soft smile and lead him further in the room.

“Harley’s waiting for you,”

“What?”

Tony turned around.

“Wait come back!” 

The man ignored him. Peter let out a huff and searched around the tower for the aforementioned boy. He bumped into a few Avengers on the way who simply gave him sly smiles and continued on their ways. Peter wondered what was up with everyone.

He looked around the tower more to see if he could find the teen. Maybe if Mr. Stark told him where he was it would be easier but now was not the time for him to complain. He had a mission. The only logical place Harley could be that he hadn’t already checked was the lab, so, with a sudden boost of confidence, me made his way to his final destination. Just as he suspected, the blonde was standing there impatiently. However, he was not expecting to see a set of two matching candy bracelets in his hand as well as a teddy bear next to them. He looked like he was caught off guard.

“Oh, um hey,” he said standing up straight. “I know it’s not much, but here,” he handed one of the bracelets and the teddy bear over to the brunette. A smile crept up on Peter’s face.

“Anyway, I’m really sorry about a couple weeks ago,” Peter wanted to stop him there and tell him it wasn’t his fault, but Harley spoke faster than he could. “I guess I was kinda freaked about the whole thing,” He noticed Harley scratching his arm. He guesses it was just a nervous tick similar to his. He grabbed the blonde’s hand without a second thought.

“Don’t worry about it,” Peter said.

“But I realized something,” Harley started. “Well, Tony helped me realize something. I think all of that stuff I said about you, you know, like how I “hated you”,” he made air quotes and looked down. “I think it was just to get your attention,”

Peter blinked.

“I know that’s probably not what you want to hear right now, but I do actually want to get to know you better because didn’t actually hate you, you know?”

Peter nodded and moved closer to the blonde.

“Sorry, I guess I’m just really bad at explaining my feelings,” he said with a shy smile.

Peter pulled him in for a kiss before he could say anything else. He didn’t think that kiss he had on top of the roof could be beat, but boy, was he wrong. 

Harley snaked an arm around the other boy’s waist as he returned the kiss. Something about the fact that Harley actually knew his secret now made this kiss so much better, something about it made him feel free.

They eventually pulled away from each other and shared a laugh.

“So what does that mean?” Harley put emphasis on the word ‘that’, the corners of his mouth twitched up. Peter chuckled and gave him one last peck on the lips.

“I like you back,” he said smugly. “I like you a lot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading!!! I’m planning on making a series of Harley/Peter moments so that may come in the future. Thanks to all of you for being so patient with the updates and commenting on each chapter, it really helped keep me motivated. Until next time, bye!!!


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